Cuban-Day Parade kicks off today

Nearly 350,000 people are expected to attend the sixth annual Cuban Day Parade of New Jersey.

The parade, hosted by the Latin American Kiwanis Club of Mid-Hudson, will kick off around 5 p.m. at 79th Street and Bergenline Avenue in North Bergan and pass through Guttenberg and West New York before culminating in Union City.

The event was jeopardized last month when West New York Mayor Silverio A. Vega denied parade organizers a permit to march through his town.

Vega, a Cuban immigrant himself, said that while the parade has long celebrated the cultural heritage of Cuban Americans and raises funds for scholarships and toys benefiting Cuban-American children, it has grown too commercial and fails to draw attention to the struggles of Cubans under Fidel Castro's rule.

Amid accusations that Vega's opposition was politically motivated -- Union City Mayor Brian Stack, whom Vega will face in Tuesday's Democratic primary race for state Senate, is expected to march -- a Superior Court judge ordered the mayor to allow the parade to proceed as planned.